Join us in knitting any Hanne Falkenberg design. For inspiration, check out her site http://www.knit.dk/billeder/ref.htm. Choosing a HF kit is a major investment - both financially and in time, so there is no start date or end date. So please, join in!

If you are interested in one of Amy's spreadsheets, you can find information by clicking here.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Gloria

I'm very pleased with the way my Gloria turned out. I'm a size 12 U.S. and made the M/L size. The style is sort of long in the back, but just right in front.

I need to get a picture of her on a body,but in the meantime, here she is. I've worn her pinned and unpinned and like her both ways, but I have this idea to put in a hidden hook and eye (one like they use on fur coats - heavy and wrapped in silk) to bring the two front sides together with the lapel turned back all the way down the front. I think she's going to look terrific that way! I know wrapped styles are supposed to be slimming, but she just feels unnecessarily bulky over my already bulkiest part when wrapped! (She looks just fine unfastened.)

My one big suggestion is to use a sewn bind-off. I almost didn't until I realized that I could use spit-splices to avoid the lumpiness my normal technique for joining in (two stitches with both the new and the old strand) would cause. It worked beautifully. The edge is totally stretchy and looks more like a cast-on edge than a bound off edge. I am totally incapable of binding off without the edge getting too tight, so this was a real breakthrough!

Oh yeah, my other big suggestion is to use spit splices all the way through. Duh. They work great with this yarn, and I would have avoided what seemed like hours of end-weaving!

JudiP53 (same ID on Ravelry, where there's a little more detail)

Addendum: Commenters asked about the spit splice and the sewn bind-off. I only used the spit splice during the bind-off, which is done all in one color. To do it, just lick your palms, then place the ends (helps if they were pulled to break instead of cut with scissors) overlapping between your hands and rub fast to create heat and friction. Add spit if needed and keep rubbing until both ends are nicely incorporated into the strand. Virtually invisible and absolutely no ends to weave in. Just wish I'd thought of doing it during the knitting of the rest of the sweater. I had to do LOTS of end weaving! The splice only works when joining the same color. There will still be the need to weave in ends where new colors are joined at the selvedges.

As to the comment about the yarn getting too worn with the sewn bind-off, I didn't have that problem at all. I avoided it by only working with a modest length of yarn, spit splicing as needed to go around that long, long, long stretch of collar, fronts and bottom. I used a double-strand to bind off (the solid band around the edge is knitted with a double strand of yarn) and I did make a point not to splice both strands in the same place. It worked great -- looks fantastic and I feel confident no excessive wear and tear on the yarn.

Be sure to check the comments for a description and link to a blog with more description and photos of Hanne's visit to a Dutch yarn shop. Sounds like she charmed everyone!

9 comments:

It looks fabulous! I am almost finished with mine, just 20 more rows to the second sleeve and I can sew her up. I made mine is a size small and though I am a size 4I am tall and would have preferred it longer and in the larger size. Did you wash yours? Does it stretch a bit? I hope so, then I will be happier with the length. You are right about the bulky part, even though I am slender, when closed the sides seem to give an illusion of heaviness in the midline. The small seems to be sized for a very small petite.In the final stitch count, the small has almost 100 stitches less than the M/L. I find that a big difference in size. I had the pleasure of meeting Hanne Falkenberg last Saturday, she was a guest at our Knitting shop Ribbels here in Holland. What a fantastic lady! It was a very intimate gathering, only 20 women and we got to drink coffee and tea with her and ask her about everything and try on all her designs on. She and her husband drove 7 hours down from Denmark and she knitted the entire way. She has a new design in the works and didn't say anything about the design or when it will be available. She showed us a picture of her knitting at age 4 with her sister and she brought the knitted "hankie" she made for her father that he carried around every day, she even had the needles her father made for her as a girl after the war. If you want to read more about our day and see pictures of us go to http://www.lifenknitting.net. Carla who is the head of our StitchnBitch Nederland group has this site. Don't worry, read on, half of the site is in dutch and right below it it is in english. I'm the blond with the bob trying on the beige Mimi--did you know Mimi comes with a pattern for fingerless mittens? Though it looks little girlish in the pictures, it is wonderufl on and just enough to wear while sitting outside on your veranda knitting or spinning. I'll let you know how mine works out, now off to finish those last rows!

After three months, my Gloria is finally finished! I cannot beleive how gorgeous it came out. I am so very pleased. The fit is perfect. I blocked her out on a bed with towels underneath after washing wool cycle in the washing machine. After speaking with Hanne Falkenberg, she said when finished, if your washing machine has a wool cycle, throw it in, it will come out perfect, and following her advice, it did.

I spoke to a friend who is a professional knitting designer and regularly has her designs published in the well known knitting magazines. She does not recommend a sewn bind off for the Gloria. It will cause too much friction and wear and tear on the yarn which will weaken it and cause it to break during wearing. I also bind off a bit too tight so went up 3- 1/2mm needle sizes to give a nice elastic stretch. I can't wait to wear her. She looks great both open and pinned. I am very pleased and can't wait to start my ballerina.

Is there no end to the list of HF designs I want to knit?? What a dilemma. I have Tivoli, Diva, Ping Pong all waiting patiemtly to be knitted (alongside the mermaid and promenade already knitted) and I see another pattern I have added to my wishlist!!

Thank you so much for sharing. It looks stunning. I agree about spit splicing. I've done some of that when making my Mermaid. I tended to use it only when joining the same colours but it was great and stopped at least some of the weaving.